VOTE AT 16

                                                                

Voting at 16 deserves serious consideration.  Many laws disproportionately affect young people, especially in the areas of criminal justice and education.  Budget and fiscal issues decided today will impact them longer.  In many states 16 year olds may drive, marry, have consensual sex, drop out of school, get a job.  Why not allow them to vote?  

TAKOMA PARK, Md. -- A small Maryland city just outside the Washington, D.C., city limits voted in May, 2013 to lower the voting age for city elections to 16.  The Takoma Park City Council voted 6-1 on Monday to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in city elections starting in November.
The council also voted to allow convicted felons who have served their time to vote.
Councilman Tim Male, who voted for the measure, told WJLA-TV (http://wj.la/12yVSqi) that elected officials are trying to make it possible for more people to be part of the city government.
The lone councilmember to vote against the measure wanted the issue put to referendum.
Takoma Park, known as a liberal-leaning community, has a population of about 17,000. The law takes effect in 50 days.

Gettysburg - Seven Score and a Decade Ago

July 5, 2013

The Civil War matters because the nation is more deeply divided than at any time since 1860. The Voting Rights Act is in peril because it is insufficiently deferential to States Rights. How the nation regards and treats nonwhites is at the core of the division. The fact that this Civil War is cold means that the lives sacrificed to it are ignored rather than commemorated as they were at Gettysburg. Disparities in health care, education, jobs, life expectancy, criminal justice are dismissed as individuals failing, genetic inferiority or cultural inevitability with little serious analysis of the role of intentional public policy. We need a third Reconstruction (the second was roughly 1954 to 1970) that addresses structural discrimination. We should attend to the recommendations of the UN Commission on the Elimination of Race Discrimination. We need a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. We urge the Egyptian regime to listen to protestors, but nary a word to Rick Perry ranting that state house demonstrations in Texas amount to terrorism. Had Lincoln survived the Civil War we might have had benign Reconstruction and genuine reconciliation. The lessons of Gettysburg are profound and timely.

Tenants Facing Foreclosure Have Rights

Tenanta Have Rights When Property is Foreclosed

GET INFORMED GET INSPIRED GET INVOLVED

IRS TARGETING IS NOTHING NEW

IRS targeting presumed political points of view is not exactly new.  Several years ago Bill O'Reilly indicated on his very popular nightly news/opinion show on FOX that he would "go to his grave" to figure out how Jesse Jackson and Rainbow PUSH Coalition raised money.  I don't recall now what inflammatory opinion of Rev. Jackson's set him off.  But he was livid.  He invited his audience to contact the IRS and demand an audit. And they complied.  The IRS agents wasted no time paying a visit to the Chicago headquarters of Rainbow PUSH and its charitable affiliate, CEF.  They found very little.  The money was raised the old fashioned way...asking people with money to donate.  CEF's charitable 501 c 3 status was challenged, but ultimately upheld.  It was a little surprising when IRS agents produced news clips quoting Rev. as he barnstormed college campuses for voter registration.They found that his standard "stay out of the bushes" quip crossed the non-partisan line and since CEF works closely with RPC, it got a rap across the knuckles and a substantial fine.  Not to mention the legal fees that were racked up.  We did strengthen the fire walls of independence between CEF's voter education and RPC's advocacy,

It never occurred to us to holler foul, or to flop.  We meant to influence public policy.  It was almost a badge of honor.  After all Dr. King had been targeted by the IRS. 

This occurred during the old days before Citizens United when 501 c organizations were not supposed to influence partisan elections and money had not been alchemized into speech.    We were not the only ones.  During the same period, the NAACP, National Urban League and some big black Baptist churches on the west coast all had protracted dealings with the IRS.  The prevailing attitude at the time was, 'of course we are being targeted' - they don't like our politics and we don't like theirs.  For the Tea Party and other ultra-right groups to pretend that they had not declared their intention to undo progressive public policy is frankly, ludicrous. If you think I have fallen and bumped my head, read "IRS targeting goes back decades, houses of worship have been main targets"

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/13/irs-targeting-goes-back-decades-houses-worship-have-been-main-targets/#ixzz2WKgnEft0

Desperation and the Criminal Justice System

A woman just called me.  She has six children.  Her fiance has been accused of committing  a felony.
She doesn't have the money to bail him out so that he can work on his defense and try to hold onto his job.  He is the family's sole breadwinner.  She's staying in a hotel room with the six kids.  The public defender won't say when he is likely to go to court.  She's talked to several lawyers, all of whom want an up-front retainer to represent her fiance and file a motion to try to get the bond reduced.  So do I.  Pro bono cases eat up the time that you have promised to paying clients.  I am sorry for her.  I give her the public defender's email address.  Lawyers respond better to written inquiry.  I give her the number to the Victim Witness Assistance program.  In the eyes of the law she is neither victim nor witness.  I feel guilty for not doing more.   According to the caller, this man has never been in serious trouble before and the evidence against him is weak. Those who get caught in the system are ground into dust. Innocence doesn't even enter into it.In cases like these, innocent until proven guilty is an aspiration, not a reality.
  

Rainbow PUSH Atlanta Meeting May 8, 2013

Rainbow PUSH Atlanta Meets with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.


Watch the Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9klapNXZLtI